A 63-year-old man was shot to death early Sunday morning at the 24-hour Circle K on South Arlington Street in Akron, where officers found him suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the face after responding to a report of gunfire just after 6:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and police say the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation.
According to Cleveland 19 News, Akron police officers responded to the 940 South Arlington Street location around 6:33 a.m. Sunday after a report of gunshots, and found the man already suffering from his wounds. Detectives and crime scene unit personnel processed the scene and canvassed the surrounding area for evidence, but police say they have no additional information to release at this time. The victim's identity has not been made public.
The Circle K sits along a busy commercial stretch of South Arlington Street that also functions as a 24-hour gas station, and real estate records show the property was recently marketed as part of an 11-property Ohio net-lease portfolio. The corridor sees heavy foot and vehicle traffic around the clock, conditions that have coincided with repeated violence at this specific address.
A Store With a Violent History
This is not the first shooting at this Circle K. On Memorial Day weekend in 2023, a 21-year-old man was shot multiple times at the same store, according to WKYC, which reported that police arrested a 22-year-old suspect nearby carrying a loaded handgun shortly afterward. The station's report placed that earlier shooting on the same 900 block where Sunday's killing occurred.
Violence has also struck nearby in recent months. Just one block away in the 1000 block of South Arlington Street, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the head while sitting inside a parked car outside a vape shop in an incident Hoodline reported in May. That teen survived after a passerby drove him to Summa Health Akron Hospital. The proximity and repetition of shootings along this stretch of South Arlington Street has drawn scrutiny even as the city's overall violent crime numbers have trended downward.
Citywide Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
Akron recorded 25 homicides in 2024, down slightly from 26 the year before and a substantial drop from the 43 homicides logged in 2022 and 50 in 2020, according to police data. Of the 25 homicide victims in 2024, 21 died from gunshots. Mid-year statistics released by Mayor Shammas Malik and Police Chief Brian Harding in August 2025 showed adult shooting victims citywide fell 50 percent, from 92 to 46, during the first half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, even as homicides held flat at 12. City leadership at the time pointed to expanding violence intervention programs as a factor in the decline.
The Akron Police Department reported in January that major violent crime metrics, including firearm offenses and shootings into habitations, continued an overall downward trajectory through late 2025 and into early 2026, even as officers answered more than 127,000 calls for service over the course of 2025. In May, the City of Akron released 58 recommendations from an independent review by the Police Executive Research Forum focused on updating use-of-force policies, critical incident reviews, and public transparency, and the city launched a public dashboard to track those policy updates.
Recent Cases Show Steep Penalties
Just three days before Sunday's shooting, Summit County prosecutors announced a 20- to 25.5-year prison sentence for a 29-year-old Akron man in a case Hoodline covered involving a November 2023 shooting at a police officer near South Arlington Road. That case involved felonious assault, illegal discharge of a firearm, and drug trafficking charges, underscoring how firearm cases tied to the South Arlington corridor have worked their way through Summit County courts in recent years.
No suspect or motive had been identified in Sunday's shooting as of the time of this report. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Akron Police Department Detective Bureau at 330-375-2490, or submit an anonymous tip through Summit County Crime Stoppers, which offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in unsolved Akron homicides. Tips can also be submitted by phone at 330-434-COPS, through the Akron Police Department app or website, or by texting TIPSCO to 274637.
